Teaching in Toronto

Hello! Sorry this P-day was pretty crazy and unorganized so I have very little time to write. Next week will be better. I'll try to hit the important stuff. -My companion is Elder Tetauru he is from Tahiti. He is very chill, we're getting along great. -So I am using the Toronto Transit system called the TTC which includes buses and the subway. No Car! -I'm in a place called North York in a ward called Don Valley, it's 30 mins North of Down town Toronto. I've heard there is around 200 active members and they are mostly from the Philipines.  - We had Stake conference this week so I haven't met many members yet. I've met the Bishop and Ward mission Leader and a couple of others. Our Bishop is the CEO of Capital One no biggy and his family was almost the only caucasian family I saw at Stake Conference. - The vast majority of people in this area are Oriental and wealthy. Every 5th car you see is either a 2017 Mercedes, BMW, AUDI, Porche, o...

Hello, Got Transfer news last night, I am leaving Sarnia. I am going to a place called Don Valley West, its about 10 miles North of downtown Toronto. I am staying a district leader and whitewashing the area (with Elder Tetauru) and replacing sister missionaries. I will still be driving a car so no bus experience yet. I am sad to be leaving Sarnia but I'm looking forward to the next stage of my mission. I'm a little nervous because this is my first time whitewashing an area but I'm very excited to go to the big city! Our area is being whitewashed as well, Elder Martin and I are being replaced by sisters! I was so surprised, but I think the sisters will do a lot of good things for this area. Elder Martin is going to be serving with the other Elder Johnson in this mission (from Ohio) in the Niagara falls area called St. David's. Today we are busy cleaning everything up and making notes for the new sisters coming in. For that reason I have very little time for t...

Hi, We had 2 very cool service opportunities with non-members this week. On Thursday we had a planned activity at 11 a.m. to help a guy move a king size bed set from his basement to his upstairs along with a big cabinet. Thursday came and at about 8:30 in the morning we got a phone call from an unknown number. We answered and he said his name was Britain. He said he had just arrived in Petrolia (a small town about 30 mins away) and needed help unloading his Uhaul to his new house. He said he contacted us a few weeks ago about it (through our kijiji ad). We forgot about it because he didn't set a date or time. Despite the confusion we said we could help him and left right away. Apparently he loaded the big Uhaul the day before and had driven all night and now was unloading it. He and his wife really needed the help and we were happy to be there. It felt really good to just help them. By the time we finished and drove back it was about time to help the other guy named Kieth at 11...

Hello, We transitioned from flip phones to smart phones this week. Unfortunately for me, my phone has not been delivered yet so I have to wait a little longer. And unfortunately for Elder Martin, the software on his phone is glitchy and he can't get into it so he has to get the software re-installed by a Samsung specialist. Unfortunately for us, we are the only companionship in the mission without a working smart phone right now. Hopefully the specialist gets it fixed today so we can get on with things. We've just been using our old flip phone and it works fine for now. In my email last week I talked about a lady we found by knocking on her door.  Her name is Michelle, we had our first sit down lesson with her yesterday and it went very well. She has a catholic background but didn't stick with the religion (big surprise there, no offense to the Catholic church). She accepted the message of the restoration (she understood the apostasy and the need for priesthood auth...

Hi, We found a really nice lady this week through tracting. She really liked the Restoration message and we answered her many questions. She's married and in her 30's. She is just a really cool person so I'm excited to keep meeting with her. Elder Martin and I have been pushing ourselves to talk to more people recently. We set a weekly goal to give out a certain number of Book of Mormon's. Having the goal in mind has motivated me to get out and talk to people when I don't feel like it--it's a feeling I get a lot unfortunately. I've noticed there is always opposition before and after we do something important for Christ.  Getting up Sunday morning and going to church has never been difficult for me; however, living what I learned at church is a little more difficult. I've learned that the adversary is relentless at "following-up" with me shortly after I have a spiritual experience. Satan will do anything in his power to make me lose t...

Hallo! (German hello) It's been a slow week. We weren't able to meet with the 2 investigators we found last week. They've been busy. It got cold again as well so that didn't help. I really enjoyed the messages that were shared at Pres. Monson's funeral service by his daughter and President Nelson, Uchtdorf, and Eyring. I enjoyed listening to the Motab sing Pres. Monson's favorite songs, and hearing the opening and closing prayers offered by Elders Ballard and Holland which is something you won't see at a General Conference session.  Recently, Elder Martin and I have been sharing the message of the Restoration of the Gospel quite often. We wanted to teach in a way so that kids would enjoy it and remember it. Thought, inspiration, and Lego collided bringing forth what I call the "Lego Restoration Lesson".  It basically goes like this: We teach all of the points of the Restoration lesson very simply. When we teach about the life of Jes...

Hello! Ontario has been suffering a cold spell recently, apparently it has been one for the record books. Sarnia didn't get hit that bad, for 12 days it fluctuated between -7 to -18 Celcius (20 - 0 Fahrenheit). Keep in mind a -15 windchill with humidity feels like -30, it goes right to the bone. Thanks goes to my brother and mom for ensuring I brought with me a good winter coat on my mission! I heard Northern Ontario dropped down to -50 Celius which is insane, I'm glad I served up North during the summer. We haven't spent much time outside recently, but that will change. Today it's snowing but it's back up to 0 degrees celcius; although it looks like winter, it feels like spring. This week we found a new investigator through our kijiji ad offering Free Bibles, we'll call Jamie. She emailed us and said she wanted her daughter and herself to feel closer to God. Jamie's friend suggested that she get a King James version of the bible. She eventually ende...

HNY, God bless you President Monson!  What an incredible man! I hope you will each take the time to remember his life and example. "Well done thou good and faithful servant." Over the past couple of weeks I have seen first hand how missionaries are "set apart" from the world. The New year didn't effect me that much. It came and went just like any other day. One reason being that we went to bed at our usual time of 10:30, I don't remember having a countdown in my dream as the time finally came, that would've been really cool though. Second reason there's not much change is that missionaries already evaluate and set goals on a monthly, weekly, and daily basis to build character and talents. Third reason being the fact that it was transfers night so the excitement for New Years was overshadowed by the news (Elder Martin and I are staying together another transfer, I am very excited to finish training him). No party, no fireworks, no justificatio...

MCAHHNY! yay an acronym Thank you to everyone who sent me something for Christmas. The letters and gifts mean a lot to me. It was a refreshing and fulfilling experience to talk to the family, I really needed it so thank you for being there. Even if I wasn't able to talk to you face to face I still love you! I love my family so much, they are the most important thing to me bar none.  As you can see in the picture attached Elder Martin and I had a lot of stuff to open up Christmas morning. Just wanted to brag a little bit about my first Christmas away from home. The many ties and pairs of socks is much appreciated. And my mom's home made candy popcorn wowza. After we opened up everything we went to a members for brunch and I talked to our families, then we went to another members place for a big Christmas turkey dinner and games. Even though I was far from home at Christmas, I didn't feel sad at all. I miss my family but I don't feel bad about being separated from...

Merry! Finally got snow here in southern Ontario. About 8 inches came down between Tuesday and Wednesday. I found out the Canadians over here aren't real Canucks because activities at the church Wednesday evening were cancelled due to the weather...it was not that bad at all. School was also cancelled for 2 days in a row, wimps. Oh well, the church is still true. Last week I talked about a family from Cameroon we met and sat down with. The family of 5 enjoyed the lesson but the mother did not want to read the Book of Mormon. Although I left the first lesson thinking we might not see them again anytime soon, I had faith we would get back in there, and so was the case. We called her up and offered to share a Christmas message with the family and she accepted. I was on exchanges in London Ontario for the day but my companion and his partner visited them and they said the lesson went great. The Mother views the Book of Mormon just as a book and not the word of God, my companion...

Hello, I'd like to share an experience from this week to demonstrate why I chose to write the title for this email. On Saturday my companion and I went street contacting in downtown Sarnia. Sarnia is a small city (70 000) so main street is basically a couple of blocks of shops and restaurants. It is definitely not buzzing with people but there is enough people to talk to to make our time worth while. We went out sharing the Light the World Christmas card. About the 5th person we contacted we began to have a good conversation.  He was a young guy, he looked about my age and was taking a break outside smoking a vape. He was a warm friendly guy and was amazed to hear what we did as missionaries because he never new people like us existed in the world. He genuinely applauded us for our service and said we are like God's angels watching the streets. He even said he wished he could do something like us to make a difference in the world. Such spiritual maturity was quite am...

Happy holidays! Christmas is in there air even though there is no snow here. It has barely dropped below 0 degrees Celsius here in Sarnia, Ontario. People are still doing fall clean-up...it's a foreign thing for me to do in December. The work is still going good! The ward Christmas dinner was on December 1st and we shared the Light the World launch video to get the ward excited about it. We've also got plans to get in as many members homes as possible to share a Christmas message and invite a friend to listen.  One interesting experience I'd like to share from this week.  A couple of weeks back we helped a lady rake her leaves. She contacted us through our "free help and service" kijiji ad. She called us about a week after we helped her and asked if we would come to her home and teach her kids about God, the bible, and the purpose of life. This past Friday, we were able meet the family and teach them. They are a beautiful family from Cameroon. Lily i...

Hihihi, Training is a jolly good time, especially when your trainee comes pre-trained.  Some might say this is bogus, but I had a feeling about who my companion was going to be before I even met him. The day before transfers I got a feeling that my companion was going to be a big guy, not fat, but just have a frame bigger than mine. The next day, the moment I saw Elder Martin I knew he was the man, he's 6' 3" and just over 200 lbs. I looked at Elder Martin and  I knew my mission president was going to put us together. Call me crazy but I think some things are meant to be. Elder Martin is 20 and was raised in England in a place called East Yorkshire. He lived in Scotland for 5 years before he came out so he has a bit of a hybrid accent. He's just a well prepared missionary and a down to earth guy. He's adjusting really well, it doesn't feel like I'm training which is a blessing. Things are going really good, we're working hard and having a go...